Thomas Payne
Please, call me Tom...
I was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 22, 1963 — the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. When I was seven years old, as my father worked for United Airlines and was tired of the snow, he accepted a new position in Honolulu and we moved to Hawaii. It was quite a dramatic change of pace for our family. As a kid, I remember getting tan, only wearing shoes to church, and growing in independence. After two years in Paradise, we moved to Concord, California in 1971. There, I attended Clayton Valley High School and then graduated from Holy Names University in 1986 with a B.A. in Psychology. After college, following in my dad’s footsteps, I went to work for United Airlines. Though it started as just a summer job, I ended up working there for ten years because it was so much fun and the travel wasn’t too bad either.
After United, I worked as a project manager for a lighting manufacturing company and then for AirTouch on their Y2K team—saving the world from imploding technologically.
In 1999, Jacqui and I were married and began our family.
Looking for more stability and a permanent career, I accepted a job offer with Prudential Financial in 2000. Coincidentally, my grandfather and his father-in-law (my great grandfather) also both worked for Prudential, starting back in 1903 in Springfield, Illinois. It seemed like fate. Shortly following the attacks of 9/11 and Prudential’s demutualization in 2001, most of my team transferred to MetLife to follow their financial planning initiative.
Though I owe a great deal to “Pru” and “Met” for their training programs, I soon came to “see the light” about a conflict of interest of selling only their proprietary products. This was an epiphany for me.
In 2004, I “shifted gears” and became an independent financial advisor, creating Prosperitas Wealth Management. I worked my way through a few broker/dealers (Commonwealth Financial Network, Investors Capital Corp., and Infinity Financial). In 2015, I made the decision to join Sam Saladino at his firm, Trinity Fiduciary Partners, LLC, located in Arlington, Texas. With this new partnership, I decided to move my family from California and relocate to Texas in 2017. It was a bittersweet departure from family and friends—where I had spent 46 memorable years. At the same time, it was also an exciting opportunity to start afresh with a new life in a new place.
Through the “pandemic years”, we continued to grow our number of clients and serve them.
In 2021, I reorganized the business again and elevated it by starting my own Registered Investment Advisor with the Texas State Securities Board. This allows us additional freedoms to assist our clients in the way that best suits each of them. In 2022, we began a collaboration with Michele Beck, CPA, Shrewd Ventures LLC, and Keen Coverage LLC to further enhance our capabilities and the services available to our clients.
I have served individuals, families, small business owners, and institutional clients for almost two and a half decades now. Listening, organizing, and offering prudent advice has enabled me to be a resource to those that count on me to help them make financial decisions — big and small alike.
I have extensive experience with financial planning, investments, and insurance.
We are elated that you are part of our Prosperitas family — or are considering becoming a part of it!
My Faith
My faith informs everything I do.
It grounds me and gives me purpose. It has formed me over the years to know right from wrong. It also has provided me a foundation to stand on when making decisions for my clients and my business.
Being raised Catholic, living in the seminary for a couple years while in college, and continuously seeking God day to day, I continuously strive to be a better person for myself and for those I am entrusted and honored to serve.
I have always been passionate about integrating my clients’ values and faith with their finances. I am also always looking for ways to improve, streamline, and spread the good news of Catholic Values Investing to those who are interested.
Faith is not a “taboo” topic for me. If at any time you want to talk faith, I am more than happy to. If not, that’s okay, too.
My Family
My wife, Jacqui, and I have been married since 1999. We have been blessed with nine children (now ages 3 to 19) — which always makes for some fun, challenging, and wonderful times.
Co-managing a large family with Jacqui has allowed me many opportunities for leadership, responsibility, education, decision-making, and humility.
My Firm
Prosperitas Wealth Management is more than a business to me — it’s my tenth child.
I started it from nothing, have nurtured it and raised it. Together we have stumbled and grown. From the beginning, we have crawled, walked and are now running together.
The offspring and lifeblood of the firm are our valued clients. I would do anything for them, including My Promise.
As I have often said, “my friends become clients and my clients become friends”.
My Finances
I like to say, “I eat my own cooking”. That is, I use the same financial recommendations and also invest my family’s own money using the same Model Portfolios I recommend to my clients. This puts me “in the same boat” as my clients—and further motivates me to understand and excel in what I do.
I’d also like to admit that over the years I have “had it all” and I have “lost it all” — and I believe there is no shame in saying that. If you too are or have struggled financially, I can honestly say, “I know how you feel”.
Sometimes we don’t know just how good we have it, unless we are able to look back at a time when we had less or nothing. Compassion is better felt through first-hand experience.
I also know that having financial security for one’s self and one’s family can mean a great deal. It can reduce stress and open the doors to many opportunities.
That is an area that we focus on in our own family and one that we lay as a foundation for our clients, as well.
My Future
The future of Prosperitas Wealth Management is bright.
We continue to grow our business, our client base, and our assets under management.
I would foresee personally working another ten to fifteen years. By the time I retire (if that day ever comes), our firm will have partnered with more advisors that will continue the work that I have started with Prosperitas.
We hope you will be along for the long haul of the many good years still ahead.